Valved container



United States Patent 3,465,911 VALVED CONTAINER Augustine L. Colarusso, Boston, Mass, and Frederick Hushen, Amherst, N.H., assignors to Van Brode Milling Co., Inc., Clinton, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Filed May 8, 1968, Ser. No. 727,621 Int. Cl. B65d 25/38 U.S. Cl. 22086 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A self-closing liquid container in which a wall of the container body is provided with a necked opening having a normally closed resilient main valve in an arrangement that may be opened either manually or by insertion of a fitting nozzle in the opening neck. A normally closed vent valve; is positioned in the container wall adjacent the necked opening and interconnected with the main valve to be opened whenever the main valve is opened.

Cross references to related applications So far as is known, this invention is not related to any pending patent applications.

Background of the invention Portable containers for volatile and sometimes dangerous liquids such as gasoline or the like are the subject of much concern by those people charged with the responsibility for public safety and by insurance companies and underwriters who must indemnify the losses that may occur from such hazards. So long as the container is properly sealed, the hazards from leakage of either liquid or fumes are avoided. Most of the prior art portable containers of the inexpensive type employ screw threaded closures which are relatively cumbersome to use when filling or emptying the container and are not fool-proof in the obtaining of an effective seal. These prior art arrangements are also difficult to use when filling or emptying the container in that an effective vent or vacuum relief is not obtained so that spilling of the liquid often occurs at those times. An inexpensive arrangement for self-closing a liquid container in a manner that is easily operated to be open when filling or emptying the container, that provides an effective vent for the container when being filled or emptied, and that automatically assures an effectively closed liquid and vapor type seal at all other times is obviously desirable.

Prior art Applicants are unaware of any prior art patents disclosing the self-closing portable liquid container of their invention.

Summary In accordance with the invention, a portable liquid container is provided with a necked opening extending from a wall thereof. An aperture of reduced size is positioned within the necked opening and a movable main valve body is normally pressed against the underside of said aperture to a valve closed sealing relation by resilient means such as a coil spring. In a preferred form of the invention, the main valve body may be a sphere and an O ring of gasket material is used as a sealing surface around the underside of the aperture. Movable main valve operating means in contact with the main valve body extends through the aperture towards the outer end of the necked opening in a manner to be contacted by the end of a filling nozzle when it is inserted in the necked opening and to thereby be moved downward and move the main valve body away from the seated sealing relation with the aperture to an unse'ated valve open position. A normally closed resilient vent valve also extends through the container wall adjacent the necked opening and an upper end member of the vent valve is movable downward to open the normally closed vent valve. A manual main valve opening means on the outside of the necked opening is connected to the aforesaid main valve operating means inside of the necked opening to enable the main valve operating means to be manually moved downward if desired to move the main valve body to the open position when filling or emptying the container and this manual means is arranged to also contact and move the movable upper end of the vent valve to open the vent valve at the same time. This arrangement is also effective to move the vent valve to the open position at those times when the main valve body operating means is moved downward by the insertion of the filling nozzle to open the main valve.

Further objects, features and the attendant advantages of the invention will be apparent with reference to the following specification and drawing.

Brief description of the drawing FIG. 1 is an elevational view of the portable liquid container of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary elevational view partly in section of the necked opening with the main valve and the adjacent vent valve both shown in their normal closed positions; and

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but showing the main valve and vent in their open position.

Description of the preferred embodiment Referring to FIGURE 1 of'the drawing, the portable container body 10 is shown to include a top wall 11 with a carrying handle 12 and a normally closed safety or pressure relief valve 13. The container body 10 may be made of any suitable material such as plastic or metal and the safety valve 13 may be of any conventional well known type which is not directly related to this invention. A necked filling and closing opening 15 extends from the upper wall 11 and a normally closed vent valve 16 also extends from the upper wall 11 adjacent the necked opening 15. The upper end 17 of the normally closed vent valve 16 is movable downward to open the vent valve as will be more fully described in connection with FIG- URES 2 and 3 of the drawing. The necked opening 15 contains a normally closed main valve and a manually movable operating member or ring 18 is movable supported on the exterior of the neck 15 and is connected through the neck to move the main valve to the open position when the ring is moved downwardly. When the ring 18 is moved downwardly to open the main valve, it also contacts the movable upper end 17 of the vent valve 16 to also open the vent valve. A removable pouring spout 20 is detachably secured to the upper end of the necked opening 15 by means of a threaded collar 21.

Referring now to FIGURES 2 and 3 of the drawing, it will be seen that the necked opening 15 is provided with an aperture 25 of reduced size within the neck 15 and a movable valve body such as the sphere 26 is normally pressed into sealing engagement with the underside of the aperture 25 by a coil spring 27 that is seated at 28. When the valve body is a sphere as shown at 26 in the preferred form of the invention, the underside of the aperture 25 is provided with a suitable gasket sealing surface 29 which may be an O ring or the like. The main valve arrangement as described is effective to provide a self-closing seal for the container when the valve body 26 is in its normally closed position. A flame arrester screen 50 is supported on the interior ledge 51 of the lower end of necked opening to extend downwardly into the container body 10.

In order to move the main valve body 26 downward to the open position, a main valve operating means 30 which may comprise a movable sleeve is positioned within the neck 15 to extend through the aperture and contact the valve body 26. It will be understood that when the operating means is moved downwardly it will move the valve body 26 away from the valve seat against the force of the coil spring 27 to the valve open position and liquid may be passed into or out of the container through a number of openings in the sleeve 30 such as the opening shown at 31. The O ring gasket 30a is provided as shown to seal the sleeve and the inner walls of the necked opening 15 when the sleeve 30 is moved downwardly to open the valve. When the pour spout 20 and its collar 21 are removed from the upper open end of the necked opening 15, a filling nozzle may be inserted into the neck 15 so that the end of the filling nozzle will contact the upper end 32 of the main valve operating sleeve 30 to depress the sleeve and move the valve body 26 automatically to the open position when filling the container.

The previously described manual valve operating ring 18 is connected to the inner main valve operating sleeve 30 by pins 33, 33a extending through slots 34, 35 of the side wall of the necked opening 15. Thus, the manual ring 18 is moved downwardly whenever the main valve operating sleeve 30 is moved downward by insertion of a filling nozzle. Also, when emptying the container, the manual operating ring 18 must be moved downward to thereby move the main valve operating sleeve 30 downward to manually open the main valve body 26.

As is more clearly seen by FIGURE 3 of the drawing when the main valve operating sleeve 30 and the manual valve operating ring 18 are moved downwardly, either when filling or when emptying the container, the lower surface 38 of the ring 18 will engage the upper end 17 of the vent valve 16 to move the vent valve downward to the open position. It will be noted that the normally closed vent valve 16 is comprised of a stem 40 and a valve spring 41 in a conventional spring valve arrangement except that the upper end or extension 17 is connected to the valve stem to move the stem against the spring 41 to the valve open position whenever the upper end member 17 is moved downwardly.

It is believed that the operation and advantages of the self-closing liquid container of the invention should now be apparent considering the foregoing description and it should be understood that various modifications may be made within the spirit of the invention. For example, although a spherical main valve body has been disclosed as a preferred embodiment, obviously other valve body forms such as spring closed discs and the like may be used. The combinational and simultaneous operation of both the main valve and vent valve greatly facilitate the use of the container both when filling and emptying it with liquid and perfect sealing with safety is automatically obtained at all other times.

What is claimed is:

1. A self-closing liquid container comprising a con tainer body having a wall, a necked opening in said wall, the outer end of said necked opening having an aperture therein for filling and dispensing liquid into and out of said container, a movable main valve body in said necked opening, resilient means normally maintaining said main valve body in the closed position in sealing relation to said aperture, main valve operating means extending within said necked opening through said aperture in contact with said main valvebody and movable inwards of the necked opening to move said main valve body to a valve open position against the force of said resilient means, a normally closed vent valve extending through said wall adjacent said necked opening, a movable upper end member for opening the vent valve, and means connected to said main valve operating means and movable towards said container in the same direction as said main valve operating means and adapted to engage said movable upper end member and open the vent valve when said main valve operating means is moved inwards of the necked opening to move said main valve body to the open position.

2. The invention of claim 1 in which said main valve body is a sphere, and a ring of gasket material is positioned around the underside of said aperture to engage said sphere in sealing relation when said sphere is in the closed position.

3. The invention of claim 1 in which said necked opening extends above said aperture and is adapted to receive a filling nozzle therein, said main valve operating means is a sleeve positioned above said aperture and adapted to be engaged and moved inwards by the end of an inserted filling nozzle to move the main valve body to the valve open position when a filling nozzle is inserted therein.

4. The invention of claim 3 in which said main valve body is a sphere, and a ring of gasket material is positioned around the underside of said aperture to be engaged by said sphere in sealing relation when said sphere is in the valve closed position.

5. The invention of claim 1 in which said means connected to said main valve operating means is manually movable and is mounted about the exterior of said necked opening.

6. The invention of claim 5 in which said main valve body is a sphere, and a ring of gasket material is positioned around the underside of said aperture to be engaged by said sphere in sealing relationship when said sphere is in the valve closed position.

7. The invention of claim 5 wherein said main valve operating means is a sleeve.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3/1914 Hansen 9/1965 Wilson RAPHAEL M. SCHWARTZ, Primary Examiner 

